I've been saying that for years. With a system that poor, one would think the OC was a former center. Oh, wait....
Petras/Padilla Passing on Third Down - A Breakdown
- Thread starter KinnickCrawler
- Start date
Alex throws a shitty ball. His completion % is below 50. Hard to believe filtering out the drops would make a 21%+ improvement in Alex Padilla's completion percentage. Just don't think the receivers dropped than many balls.
How many drops were attributable to Alex's poorly thrown balls? You'll notice much wobble and float on Alex's passes, which make them harder to catch than a tight Petras spiral.
Just another dog that won't hunt.
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So, you're saying there weren't open receivers all over the field that Spencer missed? The play calls can only generate open receivers. The QB has to know where to look when the primary is covered and the second read isn't' good either. After three years of teaching Spencer has demonstrated a consistent history in failing to locate and hit the open receivers.
sucking is not a nice word for some on this board.
Both were positionally challenged or sub optimal.
I'm not saying at all that there weren't missed open receivers. I'm saying that is just one aspect of a passing attack that is a total sh_tshow. Our first possession ended once again with a 3 yard pass on 3rd and 5. We had 2 receivers next to each other at the target area on several plays. Our FG was preceded by a pass to Bruce running full speed near and toward the sideline , short of the TD or even 1st down. He didn't make the catch but had no chance even if he had. The route was a sure failure. Similar brainfarts on other passing plays.
Back to the QB. It's been a total fiasco. We don't subject QBs to pressure ( which is the most critical mental criteria) under our practices, so picking the starter in 2020 amounted to a coin flip. But after 2 games, it was obvious the chosen starter, even with improvement, had a very low ceiling. But for 1 1/2 years, no one else got a look. And when he finally did, it was "you're only out there because of injury". What happened to the staff's mantra about "the QB not having to look over his shoulder"?
What we have is a QB who isn't P5 level or even close. In addition to not seeing open receivers, he can't hit the ones he does see. If we check boxes for most important QB criteria, he only checks #5 and #7. Going into the game Saturday, we knew that a bunch of TOs can't be depended upon; that in a closely contested game, the difference is players making the routine plays that are there to be made. We also knew who we had that can't do that. And he was put out there. It played out just like many of us thought it would. It was almost like choosing to lose. Unbelievable.
IMO, Padilla hasn't had a fair shot. He wouldn't have been a star, but I think could have been an average B10 QB. We won't bring in a portal QB and if we do, he won't be better than Padilla. And we have heard rumors before about freshmen QBs. I'll believe it when I see it. There is the added problem that even if he is the second coming of Aaron Rodgers, he'll sit on the bench at least until the season is blown.
The "throwing short of the sticks" is a misnomer that needs to go away. There are times when the only option for getting a first down is to throw the ball to a guy who is short of a first down, but on the move. If the ball is delivered to him in space, that player may have the ability to run for a first down. Iowa converted several third downs (screen to IKM, stick route to Lachey) on balls thrown short of the marker, only to have the receiver gain the yards for a first down. Watched a ton of NFL games and you see it too. When teams play a bunch of man coverage on 3rd down, sometimes the best option is the crosser where the receiver can catch it in stride and run.
On the Bruce drop near the sideline, that was actually an excellent play call and one that could have set up Iowa for a very makeable fourth down. Iowa was in 3rd and 9 from the 10 yard line, one of the hardest conversions to make in all of football. Kentucky was in zone, played off the ball, was basically going to keep everything in front of them. It was nearly impossible to complete a pass into the end zone against that coverage with that down and distance. Iowa runs a slant behind the out-breaker by Bruce to draw the outside defender and the safety. If Bruce catches the ball, he's likely at the 2 1/2 or 2 yard line, maybe closer. That would have given Iowa a viable option to go for it if they chose to do so.
As far as QB play, yes it has to improve. No one would dispute that. If you put Beathard on this team they are likely 1-2 wins better. They may have been so with Stanley, who was not as good as Beathard. From what we saw on the actual field, it wouldn't have made much difference on who the starter was the whole year. Padilla played well against a terrible Northwestern defense. Petras played well against a terrible Maryland defense. Padilla played okay against Minnesota. Very low completion percentage but 204 yards and 2 TD's. The long pass to Jones was the best pass made by an Iowa QB all year. At that point, it looked like it was his job. He followed it up by going 6-17 for 83 yards against Illinois, and 6-14 for 76 yards against Nebraska.
There were no good options for Iowa this year at QB. There just weren't. I am in no position to know if that's due to coaching, talent, scheme, or something else. Everything should be on the table for the offense, including coaches, scheme, players, the whole thing. The current mix is not working. But it is not as simple as just playing one guy over another. We saw what that looked like, with very similar results.
The belief that Iowa did not have a P5 option at QB is almost universal and I share it. Not seeing or not hitting open receivers several times in almost every game was a common Petras failing. The Iowa offense would have been much more productive if Spencer hit just 3 or 4 of those open receivers a game. Those small improvements would ripple throughout the offense had they been made?
I'm sorry but I can't see where anyone would want Pertras as a QB even if the OL were great. The first thing a QB has to have is accuracy and he just doesn't have it. Every successful QB I've ever watched has been able to throw the ball with accuracy. Watching Padilla it looks like he may not be all world but at least more accurate. From what I can gather Alix sounds like a great young man but that doesn't qualify him for our starting QB.
No, it's not a misnomer at all and the play is what either needs to go away or be corrected. My guess is that we have made the first down in fewer than 10 times in the last 50 times we have run it on third down.
There are 2 problems with what we are doing. The first is that the receiver generally has his inside shoulder closed to the QB and the defense so that he is a poor target, has no vision of the defender, or no downfield momentum. The route is being run extremely poorly. The second is that even having the route gives the QB a "safe" throw and takes him off the hook, rather than forcing him to look for a receiver who is in position to secure the 1st down. As I said, historically, it has done little more that delay the punter.
Where I disagree with you here is that Spencer IS an accurate passer…when he gets a chance to set his feet. when Spencer was inaccurate this year (which was often I agree), it happened because he wasnt set. Sometimes that was solely on him, sometimes he had pressure, and other times he simply had happy feet after imagining pressure.
My problem with Spencer is almost entirely above his shoulders…He simply has shown no ability to feel pressure, move in the pocket, have the mental clock in his head telling him when to get rid of the ball consistently. While not ideal, it’s not a deal breaker that he doesn’t like to run…IF he had better pocket presence, which he hasn’t shown after two years and is EXTREMELY hard to develop.
